


Mum

by Elenhin



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Gen, Mothers Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-25
Packaged: 2018-01-02 15:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1058257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenhin/pseuds/Elenhin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Axl didn't know it was Mother's day, but when he finds out, he can't help but think that really he is rather lucky. He's had more than one mum in his life. </p>
<p>Sometimes thogh, the best  mum isn't the one who gave birth to you, but the one who took over becuase you really needed one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mum

_Mum_

 

There were days when Axl wished his older brothers wouldn’t get home from school. It was so much more fun when he was alone with Mum. She would play with him and let him have his lunch on a blanket on the floor like a picnic if it was raining and he couldn’t go out and play. Of course she also had to do a lot of other things but she would still have time for him. When the others got home she didn’t have as much time anymore.

 

Ty would sometimes come home alone, and that wasn’t so bad because then they would play together and Mum would let them watch a movie and eat cereals with chocolate sauce and milk. Ty would ask and he’d beg her to let them and she almost always gave in.

 

Sometimes Anders came with Ty, and that could be good too. Anders could tell really good stories, only that he was sometimes too busy to do it, and sometimes he was in a bad mood. It was weird, but Axl liked it best when he was in a really good or really bad mood. It was the in between mood he did not like at all. If it was an in between day Anders would get home, look into the fridge for something to eat and then just slam the door shut. He wouldn’t either play games or read stories then. He only told stories on a good day, but on a bad day when he was really sad or angry when he came home he would usually play with Axl.

 

Mike often came home last because he was playing with Rob, he said they didn’t play, but Axl didn’t see what else they could be doing really.

 

Today Mum was in a good mood, she had been cleaning a lot and had told him he had to be really good, so he had. She even said he could feed Anders’ fish if he wanted to, and Anders never let him do that, claiming he always took too much or too little food. It was kinda stupid really, cause if the fish had too much one day and too little the next, Axl figured it ought to be just right in the middle.

 

He had tried to tell Anders that but he wouldn’t listen, apparently being older meant more stupid at times. Asking mum was a much better idea, she did not always like Anders’ fish, or his guinea pig, but she didn’t mind if Axl played with them. He had tried giving the guinea pig fish food, and she seemed to like it okay, but he had sense enough not to tell Anders that. He was little, but not stupid.

 

He could tell mum was a little tired though and he figured cleaning must be hard, even if he had helped her. She said he was a great help and even gave him a dollar for it, so he figured he would make Mike take him into town so he could buy some candy. That was a bad thing about being little, he couldn’t go on the bus on his own.

 

She’d asked him to let her rest though and he figured it was okay, especially since she had given him the last bag of crisps to eat in his room.

 

He really didn’t like to play on his own but had decided he could draw. He would make her a really great picture.

 

Anders could draw pretty good, and sometimes he would help Axl and show him how he was supposed to do it.

 

When he was done he thought it was the best drawing he had ever made, but he waited until she came out of the bedroom again before he gave it to her.

 

“It’s lovely Axl,” she smiled, patting his head. “This is going right up on the fridge.”

 

“Can you watch a movie with me?” Axl pleaded.

 

“I should make dinner Axl,” she sighed. “But I suppose we can, if you don’t mind having leftover casserole for dinner. Mike’s not coming home for supper, and I know Ty won’t mind.”

 

“I don’t,” he beamed. It was only Anders who didn’t like the casserole, but he liked it so he didn’t mind having it again. “I’ll go get a movie.”

 

He ran to find the movie he wanted to watch, handing it to her so she could start it and then curled up on the couch next to her. Even if she and dad yelled  a lot at each other, he knew he had the best mum in the world.

 

_Anders_

 

Axl tried to stifle a yawn, then folded his arms on the table instead and dropped his head to continue sleeping.

 

“Hey, quit that,” Anders turned around to poke him in the side. “None of that Axl, you need to go to school.”

 

“No I don’t,” he mumbled sleepily.

 

“Yeah you do,” Anders put a bowl in front of him, then frowned, they were almost out of cereals, again. “And how many times have I told you that you can’t have cereals when you get home. Eat some fruit, this shit is expensive.”

 

“Don’t like fruit,” Axl stuck his tongue out at him.

 

“Yeah well you’re getting the plain cereals then,” Anders decided and Axl shook his head.

 

“I want those,” he tried to reach the box. Anders had already poured cereals into his bowl and added the milk. “I don’t want those Anders, I don’t like them.”

 

“Axl, I don’t like them either, but you know we can’t eat just the good stuff. And I haven’t even had any yet, cause you and Ty keep eating them all,” Anders objected.

 

“Please,” Axl whined, pushing the bowl away from himself.

 

“Axl, you’ve had plenty of them already, and I haven’t, can you do what I ask you for once?” Anders argued. “There’s milk in them now, and I hate that, so come on now.” He poured hot water in a mug and added instant coffee to it. Instant coffee was horrible, but Mike got really mad if he drank too much, so he had bought a jar of instant and hid it away. As long as he washed out the mug, Mike was none the wiser to how much he drank.

 

“Please,” Axl whined again and he sighed.

 

“Fine, you whining baby,” Anders sighed, pouring cereals into his own bowl, and adding milk before handing it to Axl. Resigning himself to eating cereals with milk, the plain cereals, all soggy, with milk that he didn’t like in the first place. It made him wonder why he would subject himself to that just because Axl expected him to.

 

Axl sure appeared to be happy though, eating the cereals noisily before he ran off to get dressed while Anders cleared the table and made lunch for his brother.

 

Anders carried his lunch until they got to the school, then he handed Axl the old lunchbox. “There, now don’t cause any natural disasters, huh?” Anders urged him as he took the box.

 

“Won’t,” Axl declared, wrapping his arms around his brother in an enthusiastic hug that caught Anders in the back of the head with the tin box.

 

“No hugs Axl,” he sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

 

“I like hugs,” Axl shrugged. “And I like you.”

 

Anders gave him a soft smile, ruffling his hair. “Find yourself a girl Axl, it’s about time, or you’ll end up like Ty, and everyone will think you’re gay.”

  
Axl giggled and hurried off to his friends, joining Zeb by the swings. He played the most with Zeb, and ate lunch with him. Opening the lunchbox to dig out a peanut butter and jam sandwich, a smiling face drawn on the sandwich like always. There was also a cookie from the pack Anders bought for the money he earned after school, because cookies were too expensive to buy all the time Mike said. The juice was cold, a small carton of orange juice that Anders had popped into the freezer the night before so that it was cold for Axl to drink. Just the way he liked it, because he really didn’t think that lukewarm juice was any good.

 

Anders made his lunch just the way the other mums did it, and sometimes even better he decided.

 

_Valerie_

 

Axl really hoped that Mike and Valerie would be able to have a baby, because it was pretty obvious to him that she would make a great mum. She was a great mum to him after all. She would give him a plastic container with sandwiches or leftover chicken or anything like it to bring for lunch.

 

Entering the kitchen he grinned as he saw her at the stove, it was after all the fragrance that had woken him. Normally if his alarm clock rang he just beat it into submission to let him sleep, but this was something different. If they ever made an alarm clock that put out the fragrance of pancakes he would never oversleep again, he was sure of it.

 

“That smells awesome,” he beamed at her.

 

“I know you were studying last night, so I thought you needed an extra sturdy breakfast,” she smiled back. “So, I made you some pancakes, there’s a fresh bottle of syrup on the counter if you could just get it.

 

“Sure,” he took it and put it on the table, grinning as Anders came shuffling into the kitchen, barefoot and with his hair a mess. He wore an old pair of cut off denim shorts that he had apparently slept in and Valerie gave him a disapproving frown.

 

“Where were you last night?” she demanded.

 

“Studying,” he stifled a yawn, reached for a coffee mug and went to the coffee maker, quickly loading it before he settled to wait.

 

“Out drinking and harassing girls no doubt,” she snorted.

 

“Studying, but that sounds like it would have been a lot more fun,” he declared. He wasn’t surprised that she didn’t believe him, and he had been with girls. He helped them study while studying himself, and as a reward he got to make out with them. Being smart and good at studies had perks if you knew how to use it. “Pancakes?” he asked hopefully.

 

“Not for you, Axl, he actually was studying,” she stated as she put a plate on the table in front of the youngest brother.

 

“Ah come on, I was studying too,” he objected while Axl gave him a smug grin. He poured himself a mug of coffee before sitting at the table.

 

“And Axl needs a sturdy breakfast before school, because he actually learns things there,” Valerie stated.

 

“Bull, he just messes about with Zeb,” Anders snorted. Since her back was turned he tried to steal one of the pancakes from Axl’s plate but his brother jabbed at his hand with the fork. “Ow! Shit Axl, what the fuck are you doing?” Pulling back sharply he bumped his coffee mug so that it toppled, spilling coffee over the table top.

 

“Hey, don’t ruin my pancakes!” Axl cried.

 

“Anders, just look at this mess,” Valerie turned around. “Clean it up, now.”

 

“Well, I was going to, but he made it,” he glared at his brother who gave him a smug smile back. He quickly washed his hand off under the tap, not looking at the tiny spot of red there, then grabbed the dishcloth to wipe the coffee up. Refilling his mug when the table was clean. “Anyway, why can’t I have just one? I was studying too, you’re playing favourites Val,” he pointed out.

 

“Axl’s a growing boy who needs nourishment,” she stated tiredly.

 

“And Anders is a midget who needs to grow,” Axl giggled. “So I’ll be nice, you can have one,” he stabbed one through with the fork and held out to him.

 

“Thanks, but call me ‘midget’ again and I’ll show you,” Anders declared as he took it. Axl had been taller than him for quite some time now, and never missed an opportunity to rub it in. It bugged him, and Axl knew it did, which was why the baby of the family enjoyed doing it so much. He was constantly asking Anders to take down something from some shelf just because he knew he couldn’t reach without standing on something.

 

“Anders, can’t you behave yourself like a decent human being for once?” Valerie demanded as he licked the syrup from his fingers and drained his coffee.

 

“Nope, taking after your example,” he shot back and disappeared out of the kitchen.

 

“Well, at least you and Ty turned out nice,” she mused as she watched him. “And not like him.”

 

“That’s cause we had a great example,” Axl grinned as he deposited his empty plate in the sink. “See you later Val.”

 

“Have a good day at school honey,” she smiled as he left.

 

_Mother’s Day_

 

Axl just happened to glance at the date, seeing that it was mother’s day. However it didn’t appear to be very important since Mike split up with Valerie. She had been a great mum to him, spoiling him rotten just like a proper mum.

 

It was weird what he remembered the most, things like the smiling face on his lunch sandwich, and the cold juice pack. All kinds of small things that his real mum hadn’t done, that he had only heard other kids say their mum did. He hadn’t known what it was like before his second mum stepped into place and he got to experience it first hand.

 

Not just the smiling jam face, not really. It was the fact that even if money was tight there was still a cookie, so he wouldn’t be the only kid who didn’t have one. It was the way that he didn’t have to put on cold clothes before school in the winter time because they had been lying on the radiator overnight and were nice and warm.

 

It was amazing how much you missed things like that when you didn’t have it anymore, and yet never realized how good you had it at the time.

 

He had never thought twice about it before, it was his natural right to get the ‘good’ cereals instead of the plain ones.

 

It made him wish he had taken more trouble to show his gratitude when he had the chance, because really it wasn’t so hard to make a card just to show that you knew what your mum had done for you and that you appreciated it.

 

He knew he had had it better than many kids who got to keep their real mums because he had someone who cared even more, and probably sacrificed more as well. Someone who wasn’t supposed to be a mum but had to anyway because the job needed doing and there was no one else to do it. Ty had been too young, Mike had to be dad, and Anders…

 

Axl literally took a step back in shock.

 

When he thought about the best things, it wasn’t his real mum or even Valerie, it was Anders. It was Anders who had made the smiley on his sandwich, who’d put his clothes on the radiator and who never got the good cereals for himself because Axl always whined until he gave in.

 

Anders always gave in in the end, he knew that and counted on it.

 

It was Anders who kept a job after school, but the money he got for it went to cookies for lunch and pocket money for Ty and Axl because Mike didn’t make enough for that on his job. There wasn’t much over after that for the things Anders wanted or needed, there couldn’t be, and strangely enough he had never complained about it.

 

Valerie had been good, and he had always thought about her as mum, but now he was wondering if it wasn’t simply because she was a woman and Anders was a brother.

 

He remembered having told her once that he and Ty had had a much better example than Anders, and that was why they were so much better persons than the blond was.

 

At the time he had meant her, but now he was starting to wonder if it hadn’t been Anders. Valerie had loved him and Ty, and he knew that, but she had been different with Anders and he had blamed Anders for it back then, but maybe there was more to it than so.

 

It also struck him that he had another chance, another chance to show his ‘mum’ how much he appreciated all the sacrifices that had been made for him. Because he could still get a card for Anders, just to show him that he was aware of it and how much it had meant to him.

 

He didn’t though, because lately things hadn’t been so good, and if he was honest, it was probably due to them doing the same thing they had done back then.

 

They had taken Anders for granted but praised Valerie, and they were still taking him for granted. Anytime he made a mistake they made sure to tell him, to rub it in mock and scorn him, and Anders just took it.

 

They got mad at him and yelled at him even when they knew he probably had done his best, even if he had failed, and Anders just took it.

 

They blamed him for things that was not really his fault, only that they wanted someone to blame and Anders was handy, because he just took it.

 

He never even tried to fight back, he whined at times, told them it wasn’t true but they blamed him anyway and in the end he just took it.

 

He could have gotten him a card, he could have called him, he really should have gone to see him and told him how much he appreciated it all.   
  
He did not.

 

Anders had really been just a child, but he had still been man enough to be a mum.

 

Axl didn’t do anything, because even though he was older, he was not yet man enough to admit it.

 

The End

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